1) Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to smoke detection systems and methods, and more particularly, to selective smoke detection sensitivity systems and methods for air vehicles, such as commercial passenger aircraft and cargo aircraft.
2) Description of Related Art
Known methods and systems exist for smoke detection on air vehicles, such as commercial passenger aircraft and cargo aircraft. With such known smoke detection methods and systems, when smoke in an area of an aircraft becomes sufficiently dense, it will typically trigger the smoke detection system and cause an alarm in the flight deck signaling the presence of a fire. Smoke detection system sensitivity is a key factor in how long it takes to detect smoke/fire. The faster smoke or fire is detected, the faster a flight crew can initiate fire suppression systems and divert the air vehicle to an airport.
However, known smoke detection methods and systems may typically have only one alarm setpoint. This alarm setpoint may be based on laboratory and flight testing and may be set as high (least sensitive) as possible to create a false alarm tolerant system. This false alarm tolerant system assumes certain types of cargo (e.g., fresh flowers, fish) may accidentally trigger a false alarm, if fog from moisture, dust, or other false alarm nuisances, are present.
In some cases, operators may prefer to have a more sensitive system and trade off the “lower sensitivity” detector, if false alarm nuisance causing cargo is not being carried. For example, when carrying batteries, such as lithium batteries, as cargo, the likelihood of a false alarm may be low, while the desire for an early detection may be high. In many cases, inert cargo, such as packages, machinery, batteries, and the like, may be carried but may pose a low risk of causing a false alarm. In these cases, smoke detection methods and systems may be unnecessarily “desensitized” for false alarm immunity. In addition, with known smoke detection methods and systems, it may be difficult, without installing new smoke detectors altogether, for flight crews to change or vary the smoke detector sensitivity in order to increase the smoke detector sensitivity in the aircraft.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved method and system to enable selective smoke detection sensitivity, that provide advantages over known methods and systems.